Unfair to target Parrikar over absconding ex-Minister: Laxmikant Parsekar, Goa CM

PANAJI: Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar today said it was unfair to accuse Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar of harbouring controversial politician Fransisco Miccky Pacheco, who is on the run to avoid arrest in an assault case, and claimed it was a move to defame him.

"To defame the Defence Minister in such a way is unfair. It has created embarrassment across the nation," he told reporters on the sidelines of a business convention here.

Parsekar was asked about the charge levelled by a social activist that Pacheco, a former Minister, was hiding in Parrikar's official residence in New Delhi.

Social activist and lawyer Aires Rodrigues had filed a petition in the lower court claiming Pacheco was seen at 10, Akbar Road, the official bungalow of Parrikar, a former Goa Chief Minister.

Acting on the petition, Judicial Magistrate First Class at Margao, Bosco Roberts, had issued a warrant to search the Defence Minister's residence. The warrant was later stayed by the District court.

Parsekar said it was not expected from Rodrigues to behave in such a way. "This was not expected from Aires. I don't want to comment further and fuel the controversy."

The Chief Minister sarcastically said "only Aires would be knowing where Pacheco is right now."

Pacheco, chief of Goa Vikas Party, a partner in the BJP-led Government in the state, faces six-month imprisonment for assaulting a junior engineer of the Electricity Department in 2006. He conviction has been upheld by the Supreme Court.

Pacheco, a controversial figure in Goa politics, resigned from the Cabinet early this month.